NEW FIGURES released by the HSE show that one consultant in the midwest who retired earlier this year received a net lump sum of €346,714.
According to the HSE, the 63-year- old consultant received the top amount of the personnel who retired from the HSE in the midwest this year.
In information released through the Freedom of Information Act, the total amount paid to 223 retirees in the midwest amounted to €14.3 million – an average of €64,111 each. The figures show that two retirees – both consultants – received over €300,000 with the second – aged 65 – receiving €340,643.
The statistics show that three others – a biochemist, two consultants and a clinical nurse director – received net sums totalling over €200,000 each.The top 20 retirees received an aggregate €3.3 million in net lump sum payments.
Assistant general secretary with Impact, Andy Pike, said yesterday: “The high figures suggest that everyone who retired from the HSE has a villa in Tuscany when the reality is that most people who retired wouldn’t be able to afford the air fare to Tuscany.”
Mr Pike said a long-serving clerical officer on a salary of €35,000 would be retiring with a €45,000 lump sum.
He said: “The huge sums received by consultants skews the figures and the Government has to answer for that and their bumper pay packets.”
Mr Pike said the retirements had left health services in the midwest “in a fairly dilapidated way and some services are struggling as a number of people who have retired occupied key positions”.
